SUPPLY CHAIN ARTICLES

  • The Price Is… Almost Right: mRNA Edition! COGS Reduction Strategies

    The following article will outline the current state of COGS in the mRNA industry and the work he and his colleagues undertook to more effectively utilize raw materials. But heaven forbid this be your normal conference panel write-up. No, below I share Parrella’s insights, but in the form of a never-before released episode of The Price is Right…or perhaps more fittingly given the state of the industry today, this spectacle is more aptly titled: The Price is…Sort Of, Almost, Not Quite Right! 

  • Biomanufacturing Capacity Crunch: It's The Supply Chain's Fault

    What's behind the protracted biopharma manufacturing capacity crunch, when will it end, and what are manufacturers doing to keep supply on track? During Biotech Week in Boston ad BioProcess International, CDMOs and sponsors weighed in.

  • Moderna & The Global mRNA Supply Chain: Regulatory Lessons Learned

    One of the most important reminders I took away from Moderna’s experiences ushering its mRNA vaccine onto the global market is that a commercial manufacturing process must also be accompanied by a commercially ready supply chain. Though sufficient physical volumes of each raw material and a redundant supplier network are necessities, physical scale is not the only “CQA” for which we must account when commercializing our supply chain. 

  • The mRNA Supply Chain Revolution: Materials, Methods, And Momentum

    mRNA innovation now hinges as much on manufacturing materials as on molecular design, with novel inputs shaping performance, cost, and scalability. As these less-mature materials move rapidly into production, strategic material selection and supplier alignment are becoming critical to manufacturing resilience and long-term success.

  • ARW's ATMP Manufacturing Must-Reads (2024 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS EDITION!)

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about CGT and RNA therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other ATMP industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Once a month, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional newsletter format (below) and send them out via email.

  • Picasso, Pick-Up Lines, & Personalized Medicine: mRNA's Path Forward

    Overall, my presentation on what the mRNA industry can learn from the artist Picasso singled out a few specific areas from which I felt our industry could garner greater inspiration and operational prowess. But given how “collaborative” many of these sources of inspiration are, I’ve introduced each of my takeaways with a surprisingly relevant (albeit bad) art-themed pick-up line. After all, if there’s one sector that knows it takes more than one to “tango,” it’s the mRNA industry.

SUPPLY CHAIN VIDEOS

In this Advancing RNA Live clip, Sail Biomedicines’ Marc Wolfgang gives us a brief primer on the main differences and challenges in developing an IVT reaction for circular RNA, as opposed to linear mRNA.    

Explore the broad benefits and challenges that could be encounter by working with self-amplifying and circular RNA modalities — particularly in terms of manufacturing, raw material supply, COGS, and patient centricity.

There remain a lot of gaps in our understanding of plasmid quality, particularly for high-quality mRNA production (as opposed to viral vector production). In this segment of a recent Advancing RNA Live panel, speakers Adi Nair, Tyler Goodwin, and April Sena highlight their biggest questions around plasmid DNA quality, as well as the pros and cons of some of the analytical methods upon which we’re relying most heavily today to assess plasmid quality.

Large scale production of plasmid DNA requires an in-depth understanding and optimization of the entire downstream process. Explore a complete solution, from harvest to bulk filtration.

ARTICLES, APP NOTES, CASE STUDIES, & WHITE PAPERS